Yesterday, northern New England was awash in a snowfall of such fluffy, powdery flakes that I felt a certain kinship with Wilson “Snowflake” Bentley, of Jericho, Vermont, who, in 1885, became the 1st person to photograph a single snow crystal:

Digital macro photo of a snowflake on knitting, taken with my point & shoot camera.

“Under the microscope, I found that snowflakes were miracles of beauty; and it seemed a shame that this beauty should not be seen and appreciated by others.”

“Every crystal was a masterpiece of design and no one design was ever repeated.”

“When a snowflake melted, that design was forever lost. Just that much beauty was gone, without leaving any record behind.” ~Wilson A. Bentley